


Void of Rage

by TheMissluluB



Series: Horuss's Void [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: First Aid being Executed at a Decent Level, Gen, Generally kinda fluffy in comparison to the rest of this series, Vague description of first aid, an important phone call is being held, and vaguer description of a leg being reset, life contemplation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 20:11:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15202538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMissluluB/pseuds/TheMissluluB
Summary: Your name is Horuss Zahhak and you've just broke your leg. On the bright side, you know Rufioh is on his way over to help, so you take a call to ignore the pain.





	Void of Rage

**Author's Note:**

> Sixth Installment of Horuss's Void
> 
>  
> 
> I swear Equius's side of Equius's void is coming soon. It will be here soon. I can't give a date, but it will arrive soon.

There are a lot of things that you are afraid of. Honestly, there is. You don’t show it, however, because you can’t be seen as _weak._ Can’t be seen as a… a victim, ready to be culled.

You have been through that hoop enough as it is.

But when you lie here, waiting for Rufioh to arrive at your location with a first-aid kit at the ready, you realise this is one of your deepest fears. Not to die, you’ve been there and done that. Got the medal, one would say.

No, one of your deepest, darkest fears is dying _alone._ Surrounded by no one, accomplishing nothing except regret and solitude. And as you lie here, tears falling down your cheeks, you realise that this is a fate you assigned yourself to. No one _told_ you to run away.

The pain in your leg gets worse as you shift your position. You know who you must call, to ease the pain. You _don’t_ know if he’ll _accept_ the call.

That’s the scariest part.

Being alone sucks.

Being alone is where you belong.

But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t completely _suck._

Your hands shake as you dial his number, and pray to every God listening that he answers.

He does.

“Hello?” Your dancestor says, “Horuss is that you?”

You could cry… if you weren’t already crying in pain, “Yes. Don’t panic, but I think I accidentally broke my leg,”

“You _what???”_

… Guess he panicked.

“First I get called ‘not a proper highblood’ by 4 sweep old hooligans, and now you’re calling me telling me you broke your gosh darned _leg???”_ He yells.

“You say that as if I want you to help me,” You guess he’s had a pretty bad evening.

“Of _course_ I want to help you!”

“Well don’t w-” You are interrupted by hearing a conversation from the other side of the phone. You can barely make out what they’re saying, but you do hear your name mentioned.

“Wait, give it back-” You hear Equius say, before a new person answers the phone, “Bitch, you _WHAT?”_

_Oh, fuck me._

“Aren’t you in hiding?”

“Says the hermit runaway.”

“Still don’t have a phone?”

“Uh.”

“It’s been _months,_ why not?”

“I br-” He is interrupted by something.

“Kurloz?”

“Ok, I’m back inside my block. The best block.”

“The pantry.”

“Yes.” He confirms. “Why the fuck did you break your leg?????”

“An accident involving an apple, and a tree.”

“Hoofbeasts don’t climb trees, what the fuck were you thinking?”

“I-”

_I was thinking of you._

But you don’t want to tell him that. So you don’t.

“Had a lot on my mind.”

“Do you want me to help because I will,”

“No, I texted Rufioh, and he’s coming to help me,” You say, smiling a little.

“Oh.” He mumbles, “Well, ok. I mean-”

“He’s trained in first-aid,” You respond to his sputtering.

Kurloz has a 5 minute coughing fit on the phone.

“Sorry. Throat still bad,”

“I can bet,”

“Why did you call Equius then?”

“Distraction from the vicious pain in my leg,”

“Oh.”

“Also it’s a little less lonely talking to someone.”

He makes an affirming sound. “I can get that.”

“Anyway, I’ll be fine, so don’t get too worried.” You respond after a moment.

“You’re askin’ the wrong motherfucking person there.” He replies, “Oh shit, one sec,”

“Huh?”

You hear him cough a couple of times, before shouting, “EQUIUS, SOME ASSHOLE KEEPS TEXTING YOU. TELL HIM TO FUCK OFF.”

You are surprised you hear Equius’s reply, “REPLY TO HIM THEN, GOODNESS GRACIOUS.”

“I CAN’T, I’M HAVING AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION.”

“YOU TOOK MY PHONE OFF ME! _I_ WAS THE ONE WITH THE IMPORTANT CONVERSATION!”

You begin to chuckle as you continue to listen to their argument. You look up a little and see a speck of brown. You smile gets a little bit bigger. “Hey, I gotta go now,”

“Oh, what? Why? Is there bears?” Kurloz asks.

“Why would there be bears?” You hear Equius say.

“No, Rufioh has arrived with the first aid kit finally,”

“Oh.” It’s quiet for a moment, before Equius speaks on the phone again, “Hello?”

“Hi, I’m going off the phone because Rufioh is here,” You wave at the speck, and it appears to notice.

“Ah, that explains-” He shuts himself up and doesn’t continue the sentence. It infuriates you.

“Explain what?”

“Nothing, none of your concern. I hope you get better soon,” He says, sharp.

You huff, “Alright, fine! Jeez,”

You say your goodbyes, and tell him to say to Kurloz to get a phone already, and also goodbye.

The pain feels like it’s numbed, somehow. It was a nice distraction. Rufioh lands near you, geared up for the cold. Your saving grace, he’s finally arrived. Thank _God._

“You look a mess,” He says. You fight to resist the urge to flip him off. You fail to resist the urge. “Damn, ‘russ. So mean,” He replies sarcastically. (You think.)

“Oh just come over here and fix me,” You huff.

He chuckles at you, and surprisingly, you find yourself laughing too. He walks over to you and crouches down beside you.

“Alright, I just gotta keep this leg of yours steady, and get you back hive. Are you bleeding anywhere?” He asks.

You shrug, “I don’t actually know. I think I just broke my leg. I think I heard it snap.”

You see him sigh very visibly. _Very visibly._ Whoops. “Horuss, oh my God.” He moves slightly closer to you, explaining what he’s about to do. “I’m going to lift up your pant leg to see if you’re bleeding, is that alright?” He asks.

You nod. “Yeah, go ahead.”

He does so. Luckily, you’re not bleeding, but you did graze yourself slightly. That can be fixed easily. Just… clean it up. You know. It’ll work. Rufioh cleans up the graze, before putting something that is very stingy on your leg. You make a sound of discomfort.

“Sorry, antibacterial wipe,” He says, mumbling.

You nod, “You could have warned me.”

“I could have, but I didn’t.” Prick.

“Cocky,” You mumble.

You see him smirk. He sighs afterwards, before explaining what he was doing some more, “Ok, now I am going to immobilise your leg, and carry you back to your hive so I can put some ice-packs on it, is that ok?”

You nod, “Yeah. Thanks, by the way.”

He looks up at you, before smiling, “It’s ok, no problem. Just wish we could have met up again in better circumstances,” He chuckles.

“Rufioh, had it not been for this tree branch breaking my leg I would have never wanted to see any person again,” You say, not at all holding back on your bluntness.

“Again, so harsh,” He pouts.

He does the things he said he was going to do - that is, doing the ‘immobilising’ that he was talking about, making small talk as he does so. You respond to the small talk, mainly because it's better than just listening to the sound of silence. It’s too eery.

“Alright. That’s all done now, Horuss. Now I’ve just gotta… somehow get you up. What direction is your hive?” He asks. You point in its general direction.

“Could be over there. Honestly, I just follow the light.”

“That is both creepy and not at all how you’re supposed to find home.”

You sigh, “I’ll direct you. Put me on your back,”

“Horuss, I have wings.”

“Fuck.”

He ends up carrying you in front of him, where one arm is braced behind your back and the other under your legs. You don’t know if you should feel embarrassed about this, but some part of you is, thus making your face feel uncomfortably warm. You refuse to do anything about it. You’re just glad Rufioh doesn’t notice, but that might be because your hair is covering most all of your face.

You hate yourself, but more importantly, you hate how you still love him.

Get over yourself Horuss. It’s been three fucking months.

You direct him to your house, trying not to get too distracted over how warm he is. Warm compared to the cold outside. Warmer than your jacket, even.

And now you’re distracted.

“Horuss.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m just thinking.”

You continue to direct him until, at last, you get to your hive.

“This is actually kinda nice, Horuss,” He says, “Your hive, I mean,”

You fail to hide your bashfulness.

“I mean. It isn’t that great. It's mostly a cave,”

"But you built most of this yourself, didn't you?"

You nod, "Mostly yeah. I replanted the trees that I had to cut to make enough wood to build off of the cave," You explain, "It was hard at first, but I think I've mostly got the hang of it."

"How are you getting electricity?" He asks.

You shrug, “Steam power. I figured out how to create electricity from it a little after I figured out the problem with the last machine - the one I use to get clean water, I mean.”

“Holy fuck,” He mumbles, before jumping and stuttering, “Shit, sorry. Language,”

You stare at him.

“Rufioh, I literally just said fuck to your face about fifteen minutes ago,” You state, “Not only that, I texted you ‘oh fuck’,”

“Yeah, but I care about avoiding swearing,” He tries to explain. You think he means that he cares about what other people would think if he decided to unleash a long spew of swear words. He should. Let out some steam. Who cares.

“You should stop caring,” You say, for lack of better explanation.

“Damn, Horuss, you really have gotten blunter.”

“Oh, so damn isn’t a swear word now?”

“Damn is not a swear word.”

“Why do you censor it, then?”

He stares at you. You got him there.

The two of you enter your hive, and he puts you down on your sofa.

“How the fuck did you get a sofa?” He asks you. You shrug.

“The Void.”

He stares at you, almost lowering it to a glare. Really, he should have expected this answer.

“You ass.”

“You’re an ass.”

“You have a broken leg.”

You shrug once more, “That I do,"

“Where's your freezer, I need to get you something cold,”

“None existent, I guess. I haven’t got around to making one work.”

“How do you cool things?” He asks, worried.

You shrug, “Cold water.”

He stares at you, before sighing. He looks through the first-aid kit and finds a cool-pack. He used it to soothe the pain, and it worked. “You can’t move around for a while you know. I need to reset it, but I’ve never really reset a bone before.”

“That… sounds painful!” You say, not at all looking forward to it.

“It will be one of the most excruciating experiences that you have ever been through,” He explains, deadpan.

“I hate you.”

You let him reset your leg.

 

**_OW._ **

 

“I… _hate_ you," You repeat, in pain.

“I know,” He sighs, “I know,”

“What do I do now?” You ask, “Because I can’t exactly… do anything with a broken leg, after all.”

He stares at you for a moment. “I… I don’t know. I want to take you to the hospital, just to get your leg checked out. You can’t really do anything on your own, you have to wait for it to heal. The only thing I can think of is… well, having someone look after you for a while. Until it gets better.”

“I’m not going to get culled,” You say before you can stop yourself.

“Wh… What?”

“I’m not weak. I can handle this.”

He stares at you for a moment, looking worried. “No one’s going to cull you. Culling like that doesn’t exist anymore, remember? That’s what you told me.”

“To steal a phrase from you: ‘The fear’s still there’.”

“I don’t know why you’re so worried about that though. I’m not going to cull you. I’m just going to look out for you and do stuff while you rest your leg. It’s different. It would be mutual, rather than coddling, ya know?”

“Are you sure?” You ask, worried.

“Yeah, I promise,” He sits next to you, putting your broken leg on his lap. “I’m not gonna cull you, I’ve got enough anxiety to worry about,”

“Yeah, I suppose you have,” You shrug.

“If it’s alright with you, I don’t mind staying the night to look after you. I’m worried about you,”

“Why?” You ask.

“Because you've just broken your leg and I don’t trust myself or you enough to leave you there on your own,” He says, “Besides, I’m not gonna sleep anytime soon, and I don’t think you are either. Plus, I have painkillers too.”

You stare at him. “Fine. Just don’t move, because unlike what you just said, I am going to sleep.”

He stares right back at you, “No, you’re not.”

“No, I’m not,” You sigh.

He begins a conversation and you take it all in, nodding when needed, and interacting with it as best you can.

“Wait,” You say, mumbling, “What did you say to Meulin for her to hound me with messages?”

“Uh,” He replies, “I may or may not have said she deserves a better moirail,” He mumbles the latter part and you gasp, mock-horrified.

“Wow, I’m useless in all of my quadrants!” You say, not at all meaning how happy it sounded. “How fantastic.” You really _weren’t_ meant to have quadrants.

“That is not what I meant, but surely you saw how useless as moirails you both were!” He argues. You have to admit that you did notice.

“Well. We found out more about each other while we were breaking up, so really it was built on a flawed logic. The structural integrity was purely me listening to what she said and not taking into account what she needed, and also her overriding what I’m saying and me not arguing against it for fear of being annoying or coming off as rude, or even the fear of it not being my place to do so. She deserves better, honestly. I hope she finds someone who can take care of her in the ways I just couldn't,” You explain. You noticed him nodding along to what you were saying. “I think I’m going to avoid quadrants with anyone for a while. I think I need to relax and recollect myself before going into anything like that.”

Rufioh nodded, agreeing, “That’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot,” He sighs, “I just don’t trust you to _not_ rest your leg. You’re a workaholic, you never _stop_ moving. So I’m here to make sure you do so your leg gets better as soon as possible. It would be faster had you done it in the Player Village, we have a healer there,”

“I’m not going back.” You state, firm.

“I’m not forcing you to go back. The only thing I’ll force you to do is let me carry you to the damn hospital,” He says to you. You kind of have to agree with that, despite your internal objections.

“I guess I’d rather know if it’s been fixed right, and have it patched up properly,” You relent. He grins.

“You go to sleep now, kay? I’ll sort that out in the morning.”

For some reason, you find yourself believing him. You close your eyes, your tiredness finally catching up on you. Before you finally sleep however, you feel something being placed on you - a blanket, you think - so you pull it closer to yourself and get more comfortable.

Your sleep is broken and slightly uncomfortable, but it was restful; more restful than you had expected it to be.

You think the company helped with that, and despite the emotional toll - the _memories of relationships past_ \- you couldn’t be more grateful for it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
